ANIMAL BREEDING

Waipa Post, Volume 38, Issue 2270, 19 February 1929, Page 7

ANIMAL BREEDING

STANDARD OF THE IDEAL TYPE The aim of the breeder is to ensure that his animals multiply, and especially to obtain and to maintain generation after generation, improvement in the sum of the desirable qualities of his stock and to eliminate through selective breeding those qualities which are held to be undesirable (says a Home expert). His task is that of producing true breeding types which shall flourish in the cii*cumstances in which they are to be maintained, and shall fulfil during their life and at the end the purpose for which they were bred. The standard of the ideal type is therefore fashioned by considerations of (1) the thibitat in which the individual must live, and (2) the ultimate destiny of the individual. If and when it is decided where and how the animals are to be kept, and what are t'he purposes for which they are to be produced, then the breeder can "make" his breed.

In recent times there has been remarkable improvement in the general level of worthiness among the stock of this country. In the main this improvement has followed directly upon noteworthy advances in our knowledge of animal nutrition and disease, and of the general biology of the animals concerned. The breeder has gained a considerable degree of control over t'he environment of his animals. But such improvement is no move thn transient, and can be maintained only by ceaseless care in husbandry. There is a limit to such advance, and when this is reached further progress can be achieved only through the deliberate control of the inborn qualities of the stock. If standards are to be refashioned, if new types are to replace the old, then conscious and deliberate control of the hereditary constitution of the stock is demanded, for these tasks cannot be performed by husbandry alone. UTILITY QUALITIES. ; The time is approaching when marked improvement in the utility qualities of our live stock must be achieved if our breeders are to continue to compete successfully with those of other countries. The scientific principles of breeding have been disclosed, and are not the peculiar property of a few outstanding men or of any particular nation. To-day the real difficulty is not in breeding a type but in defining the standard of the ideal. If and when the breeder know* what he wants—if he can define his ideal type in relation to 'habitat and destiny, and the shortcomings of already existing types—then he can approach the problem of the production of a new type, or of the improvement of a type already existing, with a considerable degree of confidence. No breeder has yet produced a hereditary character, good, bad, desirable or undesirable— they appear. But the breeder has exercised his powers of creating any combination of such heritable characters as already existed and of manipulating the environment through husbandry so that these characters become expressed more fully. It is this power of guiding the formation of new groups of characters .which has been responsible for the production of all the modern breeds, and it is this power of improving their environment which has encouraged their qualities to find greater expression. There would seem to be no need for the deliberate creation of new breeds; there are even now too many. In every breed of live stock the average production is far below that of the outstanding individuals. The task before the breeder is that of defining the economic upper limit of productivity and of reducing the margin between the average and the best. It is improvement of the already existing rather than the creation of new breeds that is required. FORCES OF HEREDITY.

Tlhe improvement of present day live stock will be achieved (1) through the application of a more scientific control of the environment of the stock (housing, feeding, disease), and (2) through the improvement of already existing types by constant and continued selection in the direction of the ideal, and by the selection of animals for breeding as far as possible on the basis of the progeny test. Individual merit and pedigree also are to be considered. Now that the State has organised at Cambridge and Edinburgh institutions at which research in animal breeding is prosecuted, it is desirable to define their function. It would be easy, but mistaken, to claim that the science of genetics has already made contribution of considerable importance to the practical breeding of animals of economic importance, and to substantiate such claims. But is is probable that the greatest contribution of this science to practical agriculture will always be the fruits of an appreciation of its principles. In science the personal factor counts for very little, for its facts are such as can be verified by anyone who is fairminded. The forces of heredity ex-

hibit remarkable constancy and regularity, and breederes, by controlling them intelligently, will remove the elements of chance from breeding operations. An appreciation of the prinicples of the science will prevent the breeder from drawing false deductions from the facts observed by him; they will explain his successes and his failures, and will allow him to predict the consequences of his policies.